I please God to bless us together
this evening as we consider his word. Let's turn to the prophecy
of Isaiah chapter 38 and we'll read verse 14. Isaiah chapter
38 and reading verse 14. Like a crane or a swallow, so
did I chatter. I did mourn as a dove, My eyes
fail with looking upward. O Lord, I am oppressed. Undertake
for me." This is the testimony of a man
of God. Hezekiah was a man of God. Hezekiah was a blessed king,
and the Lord granted him much favour, and he did much good
in the land. He turned the people back from
following idols. He carried out the Passover in
a wonderful way. And so, as we think of the life
of Hezekiah, we might think, That was indeed an excellent
life. But we also see that the Lord
saw fit to deal with Hezekiah and to bring him down into a
very low place. Indeed, He brought him down to
a great state of sickness and that state was such that Isaiah
went to him and told him what the Lord had said. Set thine
house in order for thou shalt die and not live. Now these are very strong and
very real words to Hezekiah. Now they had an effect upon him. They were the words of God and
as they came like that It was clear they hadn't got long to
live. So we see the effect of that. The effect it was to pray unto
the Lord. What a good example that is for
us today. We know not what we may have
to face. We know not whether We may perhaps
have to face such a statement as that, that we will not have
many days left to us. Well, Hezekiah's automatic reaction
was to pray to the Lord. And that would be a great blessing
for us if in any situation of need our immediate reaction is
to pray to the Lord. Pray to the Lord. And Hezekiah
was able to bring before the Lord those things that he had
been able to do by the grace of God. He pleaded with his God. And his God looked upon him and
said, I have heard thy prayer. I have heard thy prayer. Surely
that is what we all need. If we have real prayer, we need
to know that God has heard that prayer. It wasn't just words. It was true. It came from our
heart. It was real. It was real in Hezekiah's
life. And perhaps it was necessary. Hezekiah came into a situation
like this to produce the reality of prayer in his life. Maybe
sometimes in our life. The Lord brings us into situations
which caused us to pray to God, caused us to commit our way unto
the Lord. Nowhere else to go. Death was
facing Hezekiah, staring him in the face. Where would he be? He prayed
unto the Lord. And so the Lord heard his prayer
and said, I will deliver thee. and this city out of the hand
of the king of Assyria, and I would defend this city." And then he
gave him a wonderful and an amazing sign. He caused the shadow of
the degrees of the sundial of Ahaz to go back ten degrees. What a clear picture that was. What a wonderful encouragement
it would have been to Hezekiah, because he was still ill of course. He needed some encouragement. God gave him wonderful encouragement. Sometimes we may need encouragement
and we read here, and this shall be a sign unto thee from the
Lord. What a good thing when the Lord
gives us a sign from himself, a sign to encourage us, a time
to help us. And so that was the effect upon
Hezekiah. It had a good effect. And then
he writes and he tells us, when he had been sick and was recovered
of his sickness, He gives us a little more insight into the
condition of his mind and heart, faced with this word from the
Lord that he should die and not live. He said, in the cutting
off of my days, I shall go to the gates of the grave. I am
deprived of the residue of my years. I said I shall not see
the Lord, even the Lord in the land of the living. I shall behold
man no more with the inhabitants of the world. When age has departed
and is removed from me as a shepherd's tent, I've cut off like a weaver
my life. He will cut me off with pining
sickness from day even to night. Would thou make an end of me?"
He was convinced really of the situation which would develop
And then we hear what he says. I reckoned till morning. He reckoned
till morning, on his bed, praying, reckoning, that as a lion, so
would he break all my bones, from day even to night, would
they make an end of me. Well, he was in A very desperate
state, wasn't he? You may say, why should an account
like this be recorded? Well, it's recorded because God
brings his people into desperate conditions, so they understand
what Hezekiah wrote. And they realise how the Lord
did not leave Hezekiah, and how that might indeed been encouragement
to us to realise we worship the same gods today. So we come then
down to this verse, and it's a picture of Hezekiah in his
time of need. What does he say? What was he
like? He said, like a crane or a swallow,
so did I chatter. We've seen from that picture
He wasn't able really to formulate good, as he might feel, or as
we might feel, good prayers, well-ordered, everything set
out nice and neatly. No. In our time of need, we,
as it were, groan out prayers. We're not able to say things
very succinctly perhaps, or very clearly. It might be just like this, like
a crane or a swallow. We just seem to chatter. We don't
quite know what to ask for. We don't quite know how to pray
unto God. Our prayers may be very short
and very simple. It may be like that woman of
old, Lord, help me. What a great depth there is in
a short, simple prayer like that. It wasn't fanciful, was it? There
weren't a lot of words all around it. But what reality there was. Lord, help me. And then, you
think of the publican's prayer. God, be merciful to me, a sinner. That man was in need, wasn't
he? He needed the mercy of the Lord. It wasn't a long fancy
prayer. It was a real prayer. It was
a true prayer. So like a crane or a swallow,
so good on chatter. The Lord knows our real condition,
our real situation. It's a wonderful blessing, isn't
it? The Lord knows all about us.
He knows how we feel. He knows our condition. And we
can believe the Lord Jesus himself has passed that way. He knows
our every condition. And therefore, he sympathises
with us in our present condition. We have a sympathetic, gracious
High Priest. A sympathetic, gracious High
Priest. And we can come to, with our
broken prayers, with our chatter as it were, and the Lord Jesus
He takes those broken prayers and they are presented to the
Father, presented to Almighty God. And what is seen? The merits of the Saviour. Well, what a glorious scene it
is, isn't it? A flesh that we feel perhaps undone, unworthy
to be heard, Perhaps we come thinking, well,
will the Lord ever look upon me? Will he ever have mercy upon
me? Will he ever hear my cry? It appears to be just like a
cry, like a groan, like chattering. The Lord is merciful and full
of compassion. And he does not deal with us
as our sins deserve. He remembers our frame. He knows our frame, he remembers
that we are dust, that we are nothing at all. The Lord knows
all about us. So we get the picture here, don't
we? Of Hezekiah, a great king naturally, a very wealthy king
naturally, but brought down to a very low place before a high
and holy God. It won't matter how great we
are, in this world. The Lord deals with us, each
one, in our situations and brings us down. He brings us down for
a purpose, and that purpose is that His name may be honoured
and glorified, that His name may be lifted up and we come
and are able to declare with Hezekiah, O Lord, by these things
men live, and in all these things is the life of my spirit. Yes,
it's by these things. You know, such things didn't
come into our lives. In one way or another, we have
a specific instance here relative to Hezekiah, but the Lord deals
with his people in one way or another to bring them down, to
cause them to cry unto the Lord, to pray unto the Lord from the
heart, and it's true prayer, and it's not false prayer, because
it's that which the soul needs. And then, when the Lord comes
and delivers and the Lord blesses, to realise it's through these
things that our souls are kept alive. Without these things,
we would become very lukewarm and very lifeless. Yes, we might
have a natural life, but our spiritual life might be very
low. Hezekiah had a natural life. We're not told specifically about
his spiritual life at this stage, but we see what the Lord did.
He brought him down. so that he was able to declare
great and glorious truths that by these things men live. Now
then, not only did he chatter, but he mourned. I did mourn as
a dove. A dove is a mournful creature,
isn't it? Usually we hear a dove cooing
or mourning. And so he tells us, I did mourn
as a dove. Again, when the Spirit of God
comes into our hearts and reveals something of our true condition,
like it was with Hezekiah, Hezekiah saw something of his true condition. When the Lord shows us something
of our true condition, we don't go about with our head lifted
up on a high. We mourn. Mourn as a dove. Yes, we can't claim any great
things. All we can see is our failures,
our sin. The evil of our nature, what
does it do? It produces mourning. Yes, we're
sad and we're sorry for our sin. Mourning. Well, it's a blessing
if we know what it is, to mourn over our sin. And the hymn writer
says, and after thee. That'll be a blessing, won't
it? You mourn because of your sin, and then you mourn after
Christ, if you want to know Him and Him crucified. And you mourn,
perhaps, an absent God, He mourned, perhaps, a lack of love. He mourned, perhaps, a hardness
of heart. What a blessing if the Lord comes
and deals with us. Like He did here, God was dealing
with Hezekiah. And because He was dealing with
Hezekiah, He was able to declare this truth. By these things men
live. He wouldn't have been able to
have said those words unless the Lord had dealt with him in
this way. And so the Lord does deal with
his children. He does bring us to realise that
without me ye can do nothing. Left to ourselves, we are dead. We're helpless. We're hopeless. So I did mourn as a dove. My eyes fail. We're looking upward. We get the impression here that
he was often praying. He was, as it were, continually
seeking the Lord, looking upward. He says, now his eyes fail, we're
looking upward. So this time, he was still in
that position of trial, still in that position of temptation,
still in that position of being tested. And therefore, he says, my eyes
fail, we're looking upward. Perhaps sometimes we may feel it's no good praying any more. That's really the same picture,
isn't it? My eyes fail, we're looking upwards.
It's no good praying any more. I've prayed so many times for
this and that and it seems there's no answer. No, my prayers seem
to make no avail. My eyes fail. We're looking upward. Well, you will know whether that's
true. You may have prayed many, many times and perhaps you've come to that
position where it's no use praying anymore. And is it where you're ready
to give up? Well, Hezekiah didn't give up. He said his eyes fail,
but it didn't fail. We're looking upward. It was
the expression that we see here of a man of God, a child of God,
passing through the fire, passing through the time of temptation,
passing through a refining. And it was a refining in his
case, and it will be a refining in our case. Because if the Lord
deals with us graciously, we shall come out near the side
of the fire, bettered by it. And what will the effect be?
We will have lost a lot of ourselves. And we shall retain that which
God has given us. may only be like, as Zacharias
said, a third. But nevertheless, if you and
I have a third of that which we thought we had, as real and
true, and has passed through the fire, and has only been purified,
we'll bless God for the reality of it. We'll bless God for the
fire. We'll bless God for the furnace. So it is, by these things men
live. So then he comes and he says
this, O Lord, I am oppressed. O Lord, I am oppressed. He was in a heavy condition.
He was weighed down. He was oppressed. So you think that's an unusual
condition? You think it's something only
one or two people experience? I believe God leads his people
into this way. So they are oppressed. You may
say, well why do you think that is so? Well, for a number of
reasons. But I'll tell you one reason.
And one very important reason. and that is to bring us into
a blessed position of fellowship with the Lord Jesus Christ. In the 53rd of Isaiah, we read
that prophecy with regard to the Lord Jesus Christ himself. Isaiah tells us in the 7th verse,
he was oppressed and he was afflicted Yet he opened not his mouth.
He is brought to landless slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers
is dumb. So he opened not his mouth. He was oppressed. And he was afflicted. We see
the example of the Saviour. And the Lord, I believe, causes
us to walk in this way, by His grace, to understand a little
of what the Saviour faced and what the Saviour endured. When He was on this earth and
how He reacted, He opened not His mouth. He was oppressed and
He was afflicted, yet He opened not His mouth. and you think the Saviour was
without sin. What reason he had to speak against
those who were oppressing him, who were afflicting him. But
no, he opened not his mouth. He bore all that the Father saw
fit to lay upon him. He is brought as a lamb to the
slaughter, And as a sheep before a shearer is dumb, so he opened
not his mouth." Well, perhaps we can get some little view of
the Lord Jesus in that situation. Oppressed. Oppressed. And therefore, it may be that
we come and we think, oh dear, I am oppressed. So was the Saviour. He was oppressed. we may be oppressed
because of our sin. The Saviour was oppressed, not
because of his sin, but because of our sin. He was oppressed. So surely then there is and there
will be that measure of blessing in this situation if We find
union with the Lord Jesus Christ, communion with him. The Lord
knows the path we're taking. The Lord knows exactly what it
is, because he's walked that way. We have a brother born for
adversity. We have a friend of sinners.
We have a great and glorious Saviour, and yet one who was
oppressed. He was oppressed. Let us not
forget that. And remember, further on in this
same chapter, yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him. It put him to grief, when thou
shalt make his soul an offering for sin. He shall see his seed,
he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall
prosper in his hand. Sometimes the Lord causes us
to walk in a way like this, not to the same depth by any means.
Perhaps just a little. To be bruised. To be bruised. Please the Lord to bruise him. Sometimes we might feel to be
bruised. And not only that, but also to
be put to grief. We may be grieved. And this all,
no doubt, is part of being oppressed. Oppressed because of this situation. We may perhaps sometimes say,
well, why it has come upon me? Why am I caused to walk this
path? Well, we do not well to ask that
question really. What we should realise is, the
Lord is leading us in the right way, that we might go to a city
of habitation. In this path, it's a path of
purification, it's a path of weaning, from all the natural
pleasures, as it were, of his life. And it directs us to the
true pleasure and blessing of union and communion with the
Lord Jesus Christ. I am oppressed. The Lord Jesus Christ, he knows
how to deliver those who are oppressed. Indeed in the Acts
of the Apostles in the 10th chapter, We read there Peter is speaking
and we read what he says in the 37th verse, that word I say ye
know which was published throughout all Judea and began from Galilee
after the baptism which John preached how God anointed Jesus
of Nazareth with a Holy Ghost and with power who went about
doing good and healing all that were oppressed of the devil. For God was with him. And that's how it may be. We
may feel and know what it is to be oppressed by the devil. The devil wants us to be oppressed
so much if he can to destroy us. Well, he will never be able
to. And to know that we have such
a great and glorious Saviour, who goes about, still today,
doing good and healing all that were oppressed of the devil.
The devil doesn't oppress those who are not his children. He
lets them get on with their lives. But those who are God's people,
the devil oppresses. But what a blessing to know the
Lord heals such. He comes to us and we know that
God was with him. And we know today that God is
with him still. God is God. The Lord is God.
What a blessing that is to know. And so we have this statement,
O Lord, I am oppressed. We shouldn't be surprised then.
That is true. We read Behold, for peace I had
great bitterness. Great bitterness instead of peace. But, but, there are many buts
in the word of God. And here is one of them. But
thou hast in love to my soul delivered it from the pit of
corruption, for thou hast cast all my sins behind thy back. Now, what a deliverance that
will be. If you and I are oppressed because
of our sin, we may have great bitterness because of it in our
heart, which only the Lord knows about. It is between your soul
and God. It's not something that you parade
before your fellow beings. It's that which God does, convincing
us of our sin, causing us to realise this condition. But thou
hast in love to my soul delivered it from the pit of corruption."
The Lord has delivered us. He's shown us our great need. He's brought us right down. Now
we are chattering. Now we are mourning. And there we are, praying to
the Lord. He brings us down there and yet
it is because of His love to our soul. It is love because
our soul is being prepared for our eternal home. You and I wouldn't
prepare ourselves very well, would we? We'd organise a very smooth path
for ourselves. We wouldn't know much about mourning.
We wouldn't know much about praying. No, we wouldn't know much about
our eyes failing looking upward. But you see, when the Lord shows
us, it's because of his love to our soul. To show us where we are. who
we are, what we are by nature, to direct us to the Saviour. Oh, the love to my soul. And here is the wonderful truth,
delivered from the pit of corruption, delivered from hell. The devil will never be able
to capture us. He'll try. He'll never succeed. delivered from the pit of corruption,
for thou hast cast all my sins behind thy back." Hezekiah was
well aware of the sins that he had. My friend, you and I, by
the Spirit of God, will know something of the sins that we've
got. We'll be ashamed of them. We'll cry out, perhaps, can ever
God dwell here in such a heart as mine? To know then that Hezekiah
had his gracious words spoken to him and how appropriate it
is for us today. I will. I cast all my sins behind thy
back. All my sins. behind thy back."
Now then, Isaiah tells us, Hezekiah said
then, undertake for me. Undertake for me. What is that
kind of picture we get? It means that we are willing
for the Lord to just take it up. Just to undertake for us. We have those words, don't we?
Underneath our everlasting arms. To know that the Lord's arms
are underneath us, holding us up. We might be ready to sink,
ready to perish. No, the Lord holds us up. What a blessing that is. Undertake
for me. Undertake for me. It's a great
depth in that prayer, isn't it? I believe it gives us this picture.
Total submission to the will of our God. Undertake for me. I've come to the end of my ability. I can't do anything else. Lord,
undertake for me. Lord, come to me. Lord, be gracious
to me. Lord, bless me. Lord, undertake
for me. It's not a long prayer, is it?
It's very real, isn't it? And I believe the true Church
of God know what it is to come like that. And when we come like
that, we become empty of self. We come like this, nothing in
my hand I bring, simply to thy cross I cling. Undertake for me. Where was he
looking? To the Saviour. Where will we
be looking? To the Saviour. We will need
Him, our blessed Lord, to come to us and undertake for us. to do that for us which we could
not do for ourselves. I believe that's one of the clearest
indications of the blessing of the grace of God to receive that
from God which we could not do for ourselves. It's a wonderful
indication of God's love and favour Because we received that
from our God. We couldn't do it. God gave it
to us. God blessed us. God strengthened
us. God encouraged us. Undertake
for me. Hezekiah had a personal religion. You and I, my friends, will have
a personal religion. We may sometimes think, well,
that word's suitable for that person, that's suitable for that
person. Real religion comes to us direct. And to leave everything else,
and it will be between your soul and God. Here it is. Undertake
for me. Well, what a wonderful thing
it is, isn't it? If you and I come here. Yes,
it's a low place, but it's a high place. Because we're nothing
in ourselves, Christ might be all and in all. Yes, we're committing
everything into his hand. Undertake, Lord, everything. Undertake for me. Now then, was
that prayer heard? Well, it was heard. It was heard
and it's important to realise How Hezekiah goes on. He tells
us, for the grave cannot praise thee, death cannot celebrate
thee, they that go down as a pit cannot hope for thy truth. The
living. The living. Here was a living
man. My friends, if you and I come
here, while we are praying for the Lord, undertake for me. We are amongst the living. that
living the living, he shall praise thee. As I do this day, the fathers
of the children shall make known my truth. It goes on very beautifully,
doesn't it? The Lord was ready to save me.
Yes, my friends, the Lord is ready to save us today. Therefore,
we will sing my songs to the stringed instruments all the
days of our lives. in the house of the Lord. Woody
had something to sing about, didn't he? Here's something to
be thankful for. This great God had indeed undertaken
for him. He hadn't left him. He hadn't
forsaken him. He'd been round about him. He'd
heard his prayer and he'd come to him where he was. You know
in the 147th Psalm we read these words. He healeth the broken in heart,
and bindeth up their wounds. He telleth the number of the
stars. He calleth them all by their names. Great is our Lord,
and of great power His understanding is infinite. The Lord lifteth
up the meek. He casteth the wicked down to
the ground. Sing unto the Lord, with thanksgiving, sing praise
upon the harp unto our God. And then Psalm 143, the Psalmist
here, Psalm of David, and he's in distress and he prays like
this, hear me speedily, Surely Hezekiah was praying like this,
undertake for me. Hear me speedily, O Lord. My
spirit faileth. Hide not thy face from me, lest
I be like unto them that go down to the pit. Cause me, cause me
to hear thy loving kindness in the morning. For in thee do I
trust. Cause me to know the way wherein
I should walk. for I lift up my soul unto thee."
Well, what a favour it is to have such a saviour. A saviour
who loved us so much, he laid down his life that we might receive
life. He shed his precious blood that
all our sins might be washed away. He undertook for us. We couldn't do that ourselves,
could we? We couldn't save our souls. The Lord Jesus undertook
for us. He did it all. He did it all. A complete salvation. Nothing
lacking. If you and I did it, my friends,
we would fail. Nothing lacking. It was a complete
salvation. It was a complete work. A finished
work. A completed work. And all today,
may our rest be in this, that the Lord has gone before. The Lord has died for us. The
Lord has atoned for all our sin. And now today he has ascended
up on high, having led captivity captive, and received gifts for
men, yea, for the rebellious also. So tonight may we rejoice
in such a statement as this. Like a crane or a swallow, so
did I chatter. I did moan as a dove. My eyes
fell, looking upward. O Lord, I am oppressed. Undertake
for me. Amen.